BEFORE THE

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

WASHINGTON, D. C.

---------------------------------------------

In the matter of :

:

THE IMPOSITION OF UNJUST USER CHARGES AT : DOT-OST-2013-

ITALIAN AIRPORTS : 0038

:

under Section 41310(c) of the International :

Air Transportation Fair Competitive :

Practices Act, as amended :

---------------------------------------------

REPLY OF AMERICAN AIRLINES

Communications with respect to this document should be sent 

to:

VIRASB VAHIDI WILLIAM K. RIS, JR.

Senior Vice President - Senior Vice President -

Marketing and Planning Government & Regulatory

and Chief Commercial Officer Affairs

American Airlines, Inc. American Airlines, Inc.

P.O. Box 619616, MD 5634 1101 17th Street, N.W.

DFW Airport, Texas 75161 Washington, D.C. 20036

ROBERT A. WIRICK FRANCIS C. HEIL

Managing Director - Senior Attorney

Regulatory & International American Airlines, Inc.

Affairs 1101 17th Street, N.W.

American Airlines, Inc. Washington, D.C. 20036

P.O. Box 619616, MD 5434 (202) 496-5642

DFW Airport, Texas 75261 francis.heil@aa.com

(817)963-0394

robert.wirick@aa.com

March 27, 2013
BEFORE THE

DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

WASHINGTON, D. C.

---------------------------------------------

In the matter of :

:

THE IMPOSITION OF UNJUST USER CHARGES AT : DOT-OST-2013-

ITALIAN AIRPORTS : 0038

:

under Section 41310(c) of the International :

Air Transportation Fair Competitive :

Practices Act, as amended :

---------------------------------------------

REPLY OF AMERICAN AIRLINES

American Airlines supports the Department’s Tentative 

Decision1 under the International Air Transportation Fair 

Competitive Practices Act, 49 U.S.C. § 41310, as amended 

("IATFCPA"). For a number of years the Government of Italy 

has allowed a lower fee schedule at Italian airports for 

flights operating within Europe while a significantly higher 

fee schedule is charged for flights operating outside of

Europe. The Italian government has not adequately justified 

the basis upon which these fees are charged- even to the head 

of the EU delegation2 -and it does not appear poised to remedy 

 

1

 See DOT Order 2013-3-1 2

 See Matthew Baldwin letter dated December 12, 2012, Ref.

Ares(2012)1495908- 14/12/2012
the current situation any time soon. Under the standard of 

the International Air Transportation Fair Competitive 

Practices Act, as amended, 49 U.S.C. 41310(c), the government 

of Italy’s continued support of the pricing scheme at airports 

in Italy has resulted in an unjust discriminatory effect on 

U.S. carriers, and has imposed an unjustifiable restriction on 

U.S. air carriers’ access to the market.

Article 12 of the U.S.-EU Air Transport Agreement is 

clear on the issue. It states, in part, that user charges 

“shall be just, reasonable, not unjustly discriminatory, and 

equitably apportioned among categories of users.” The Italian 

differentiated rate system whereby charges are lower for 

intra-European operations than for beyond Europe operations 

constitutes an unjustifiable discriminatory practice against 

U.S. air carriers by definition. 

As previously stated, the Italian government has been 

asked repeated and formally under the principles of Article 

12(2) of the Agreement to quantify its policy, and to our 

knowledge has not done so. The government has been engaged at 

various U.S.-EU Joint Committee meetings and has not taken 

action to remedy the situation. As a result, American 

Airlines strongly supports the Department’s use of the IATFCPA
process in order to eliminate this discriminatory charging 

schedule and to resolve the competitive distortions that have 

resulted in the market.

Respectfully submitted,

___________________________

FRANCIS C. HEIL

Senior Attorney

American Airlines, Inc.

March 27, 2013
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that I have this day served the foregoing document by 

email on the following persons:

sascha.vanderbellen@delta.com jhill@dlalaw.com

mroller@rollerbauer.com steve.morrissey@united.com

sametta.c.barnett@delta.com mgoldman@sgbdc.com

dan.weiss@united.com rsilverberg@sgbdc.com

karine.faden@united.com dhainbach@ggh-airlaw.com

esahr@eckertseamons.com rpommer@atlasair.com

russell.bailey@alpa.org dmrosenthal@jamhoff.com

jonathan.linde@united.com dpdean@jamhoff.com

bob.kneisley@wnco.com dkirstein@yklaw.com

robert.land@jetblue.com jyoung@yklaw.com

msinick@ssd.com william.stallings@usdoj.gov

cdonley@ssd.com dwight.moore@ustranscom.mil

gbleopard@fedex.com john.allen@faa.gov

cefelts@fedex.com urskr@state.gov

kevin.montgomery@polaraircargo.com gmurphy@crowell.com

nssparks@fedex.com cjsimpson@zsrlaw.com

lhalloway@crowell.com benjamin.slocum@usairways.com

efaberman@wileyrein.com howard.kass@usairways.com

jennifer.nowak@hklaw.com anita.mosner@hklaw.com

rdmathias@zsrlaw.com jhfoglia@zsrlaw.com

________________________________

Francis C. Heil

March 27, 2013